Build a Local Organizational Backbone

A fundamental step in the development of any community development plan is the building of a strong, well-organized “backbone” that will carry the strategy through its implementation and sustain the community development process well into the future. The U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Economic Adjustment's “Local Officials Guide to Economic Adjustment” includes resources to help you build this backbone—especially in Chapters 4-8.​Before you take this step, however, it is important to determine whether there are already complementary activities underway in your region with which you may collaborate and/or special programs for which you may be eligible. Please explore the resources for distressed, special interest, and rural communities.

Step 1. Identify a Community Leader

A strong and effective leader must be at the top of your organizational backbone. Anyone can step up and lead this effort; for example, it may be a local chamber of commerce representative, an economic development agent, or a Manufacturing Extension Partnership center director. Ideally, your leader will demonstrate personality traits such as integrity, courage, commitment, empathy, creativity, and flexibility.​

Most of your partner organizations will vary in their level of involvement and commitment over time. As you get started, consider that some partners will be more involved at the beginning, while others will join during later steps. For example, the backbone organization may contact many potential partners initially to gauge interest; but a smaller core group will plan the initiative; and yet another set of partners might fund and carry out the majority of initiative implementation. Recruiting your team will be an ongoing process, rather than a one-time activity.

Step 3. Start Planning

Once you have selected the team, you should:

Hold a kickoff meeting to introduce team members to each other and to the overall process, to review IMCP requirements, and any expectations that would need to be met to secure non-Federal investments.

Get participation commitments from team members, and have them agree on the scope and scale of the effort.

Make sure the effort makes sense socially, politically, and environmentally.

Garner support of state agencies, mayors, foundations, utilities, local business organizations, and nonprofit organizations.

Engage local utilities to participate in applicable energy efficiency programs.

Step 4. Explore Financial Resources

You are likely to need financial resources to help with planning and implementation of your strategies.

Contact agencies and organizations to see if any are currently funding, or have interest in funding, sustainability, business, and/or workforce improvement efforts in your region.

Approach foundations, economic development agencies, community development financial institutions, and/or impact investors as potential partners working towards similar community objectives, not just as "funding sources."

Look for periodic announcements soliciting proposals for efforts similar to your initiative.

If you are new to the Federal grant process, please see grants.gov and the Foundation Center for valuable information about grants and grant writing.

Don't Forget!​​Communities will need to demonstrate investment from private or non-Federal public sources to be eligible for IMCP funding. See the IMCP Financing Guide for additional guidance on exploring financing options.

Step 5. Draft a Memorandum of Understanding (or Charter)

To achieve optimum project efficiency and operation, it is highly recommended that the community team draft and agree on a memorandum of understanding (MOU). To create a well-drafted project MOU, include all of the decisions your team made during this early organizational phase, as well as preliminary goals, a communication strategy, an outreach strategy, distribution of responsibilities, and a project schedule. This MOU can also document the team's intent to hold regular meetings, lists points of contact for each organization participating in the project, and provides technical assistance leads for specific parts of planning, implementation, and follow-up stages. Keep in mind that you will likely update—or even replace this MOU—after you develop your tune-up strategy and any funding commitments are in place.

Now, with this organizational backbone in place, it is time to conduct an assessment and build your growth strategy.